A high school senior experienced a profound change in her life after a private plane crash in upstate New York resulted in the loss of her entire family.
Anika Groff was not on board the twin-engine Mitsubishi MU-2B that crashed in Copake, New York, near the Massachusetts border on Saturday, April 12, 2025.
Those who perished included her parents, Michael Groff, a neuroscientist, and Joy Saini, a urogynecologist, as well as her two older siblings, Karenna and Jared Groff. The crash also took the lives of Karenna’s boyfriend, James Santoro, and Jared’s partner, Alexia Couyutas Duarte.
The Weston school district in Massachusetts, where Anika is currently a senior, issued a statement acknowledging the tragic loss.
According to reports, Michael Groff served as an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and was the executive director of neuroscience at Rochester Regional Health. He was piloting the aircraft at the time of the crash. His wife, Joy Saini, was the founder of Boston Pelvic Health and Wellness and had met Michael during their medical training at the University of Pittsburgh.
Their daughter, Karenna, was a former MIT soccer player who earned national recognition as the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year. She was reportedly studying medicine at NYU and co-founded openPPE during the COVID-19 pandemic, contributing to the development of new designs for masks used by essential workers.
Her boyfriend, James Santoro, also an MIT graduate, worked in finance. James’ father, John Santoro, mentioned that the couple was planning to get engaged this summer. “They were a wonderful family,” he noted. “The world lost a lot of very good people who were going to do a lot of good for the world if they had the opportunity.”
Jared Groff and his partner Alexia Couyutas Duarte were both Swarthmore College graduates, the same institution where Michael Groff studied. They worked as paralegals, and Jared had plans to start law school in the fall, as stated by Swarthmore College.
Before the incident, Anika Groff had been accepted to Swarthmore College but declared her intention to attend the University of North Carolina, according to family statements.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) initiated an investigation into the cause of the crash. Officials indicated that the private plane departed from White Plains airport, heading to the Catskills for a birthday and Passover celebration, when it crashed into a field on Saturday.
An NTSB member indicated on Monday that the aircraft had flown for less than an hour before the crash, with no issues reported during that time. Michael Groff, the pilot, contacted air traffic control about rerouting after missing the initial approach to Columbia County Airport.
Air traffic controllers later noted a low altitude warning and attempted to communicate with the pilot, but received no response. Officials confirmed that no distress call was made from the plane.
Columbia County Undersheriff Jacqueline Salvatore confirmed the crash’s fatal result shortly after it occurred. “It’s in the middle of a field and it’s pretty muddy, so accessibility is difficult,” Salvatore stated at a news conference near the scene, about 50 miles south of Albany, New York.
The NTSB investigation is expected to take 12 to 24 months to complete, with a final report on the probable cause and any contributing factors anticipated to be delivered. Initial findings suggest the plane was intact before experiencing a high-speed descent into the agricultural field.
Investigators are examining whether deteriorating weather conditions, including freezing temperatures and strong winds, contributed to the crash. The plane went down approximately 10 miles from Columbia County Airport, its intended destination.
Several academic institutions associated with the family have extended their condolences. MIT, where Karenna was a distinguished student-athlete, and Swarthmore College, where multiple family members studied, issued statements mourning the loss of these accomplished individuals.
Rochester Regional Health, where Michael Groff had recently started working as executive medical director of neurosciences after leaving Harvard, remembered him as a highly regarded neurosurgeon whose expertise would be missed by colleagues and patients.
The victims’ families released a joint statement describing them as “brilliant, dynamic, and loving people” whose contributions to their fields and communities were significant, with potential for future impact that was immeasurable.
